Rangers vs. Hurricanes: Loafing Without Bread
A bleak loss, a brilliant goalie, and the first real reminder of life after the Breadman—Game Notes from another rough chapter in the retool.
- Let me tell you what these Game Notes are not going to be. They're not going to be a recapitulation of any of my takes on the Artemi Panarin trade. If you want that, you can go listen to the podcast. They're not going to revisit any of the tête-à-tête's I've had with people on X, which have ranged from reasonable and well-grounded disagreements and differences of opinion to me being agog at some of the most galaxy-brained takes I've ever seen about the New York Rangers. We'll have plenty of time to dissect this move, and we have more pieces coming at Blueshirt Banter that will do just that.
- Let's start with the pre-game.
Looks like Brennan Othmann and Scott Morrow will be the healthy scratches tonight.
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) February 5, 2026
Anton Blidh and Vincent Iorio came off with the regulars, with the latter trending toward his #NYR debut.
- Iorio going in for Morrow can be explained by handedness and the fact that coaches really only prefer to use players, especially defensemen, on their natural side. Wanting to get a look at Iorio is fine, and I thought he played fine. Blidh coming in for Othamnn is, well, what ever. Is there a person among us who believes that Brennan Othmann is in any way a part of the Rangers next year? Anyone? Everything has signaled he's not, and it's not as if we've seen all that much from him when he's been in. Yes, the team has been bad. At some point something has to show up with him, though. And it just hasn't.
- Not that it would have made much difference if it were Morrow and Othmann in the lineup. This is a team that can't do much. They had 10 shots through two periods of play. Sure, the Carolina Hurricanes play a suffocating brand of hockey, so that's not totally uncommon against them. But this Rangers team can't get much of anything going against anyone, and it's going to be like that for the rest of the season.
